Letter: Middle class is being held hostage by extremists in both parties

The American middle class is being held hostage by the extremists of both of our national parties. It appears that the only way to gain a political direction in our country today is to fight to win it all with the fall back position being to win half.

This is why we have more than one party representing our population. It has worked for many years. It's the checks and balances that the middle class American depends on for survival.

Sometime between the two Gulf wars, the extremist voices started to make in roads on moderate America. Makes sense. The word extreme itself means trying harder and using new methods to reach a goal. Not so bad if you're trying to win a position on your favorite team.

Dead wrong if your efforts destroy the team or league itself. Somehow, some way, moderation must return by allowing the best ideas of both parties to be incorporated into our political system. The American middle class in both parties shudders when the extremists have a knee jerk reaction and want to amputate rather than heal the limb.

The average American does not expect to be rich and certainly does not want to be poor.

So the answer is: stop pandering to the poor and the rich. Pander to the average American who wants only to work and provide for the needs and wants of their family. This is how to pander honorably to save the American middle class.

In every election we must vote out the extremists of both parties. One election does not a change make. Witness the Obama election: one man cannot beat down the extremists in both parties. Witness the last election: the tea party is a bad joke and is disrupting the very party it meant to re-build.

We must send our message to Washington that only those politicians who can find the golden mean to vote for the best laws instead of blindly following the loudest voices will be elected. Accept the fact that it cannot be done in one fell swoop but that one, two, three or more elections will have to held to sort out the extremists of both parties.

For your information, if my party were to have everything it wants today, America would sink like a rock. What about your party, if they had it all how well off would this country be?